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Struggling to Shake Off Its Past

NEWARK - THE lights dimmed, the orchestra tuned up and Neeme Jarvi, the renowned conductor, strode onto the stage of the sumptuous Prudential Hall at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. He took a brisk bow and raised his baton-less hands before the members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

The musicians embarked on a crisp Mozart piece, an unannounced two-minute contredanse. But it stopped just as quickly as it had started as Mr. Jarvi -- who is in his first season here -- put his hands down, shrugged and exited stage right amid a smattering of titters and a sense of befuddlement. Replacing him onstage was a man with a microphone.

"I'm Bob Wagner," the man said. "I'm a member of the woodwind section."

What in the world was going on?

Mr. Wagner, a bassoonist and 27-year veteran of the orchestra, explained that he would be giving "brief glimpses of what goes on behind stage" (poker games, for instance). He then brought out that evening's soloist, Emanuel Ax -- whom he addressed as "Manny" -- and wondered just how he approached playing the demanding solo piano part in Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1.

This newfound if sometimes awkward attempt to connect with and surprise the audience, begun this season, is one way the orchestra is looking to change course after a rocky 24 months.

In the 83-year history of the state's orchestra, the last several years have been especially turbulent. What began with much fanfare in 2003 with a gift of 30 string instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries -- overvalued at $48.9 million but initially sold to the orchestra for $18 million -- devolved quickly into accusations of fraud and a general sense of embarrassment from which the orchestra has not recovered.

Then last July, the executive director, Simon Woods, left the orchestra after 15 months to become the chief executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow, leaving musicians and staff stunned and embittered.

These two high-profile stumbles have colored the search for a new leader, which was halted in January, mainly because many of the candidates expressed concern over the orchestra's debt, almost $20 million.

At least one candidate went so far as to say that he did not want to take the job because he feared that the orchestra might cease to exist, the organization's interim president, Stephen Sichak, conceded in a recent interview.

"We had one who said, 'Look, I can't take the risk of moving my family in case something happens to the orchestra in the next five to six months and it shuts down,' " Mr. Sichak said.

He said that such a situation would be unlikely, but noted that the search would now focus on local candidates, though it would be broadened to look at leaders of arts organizations.

All this turmoil comes amid efforts to raise interest in the orchestra as well as the morale of its members, who put up with an unusual schedule that takes them to seven concert halls around the state during a season that runs from fall to spring. At the hall in Newark on a recent night, about a third of the 2,750-seat room was empty.

The problems are not limited to New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Around the country, orchestras have been struggling for the last five years because of plunging donations, deficit-riddled budgets, musician strikes and a dearth of managers.

Yet despite these discouraging developments, the New Jersey orchestra is ahead of last year's pace, having attracted 1,000 more subscribers for next season than it did this year -- a season that will feature the complete symphonies of Beethoven. On Thursday, the orchestra will begin live broadcasts on WQXR-FM, the classical music radio station owned by The New York Times Company.

The orchestra seems determined to put its troubles behind it.

"We still have big financial problems," said Dr. Victor Parsonnet, who has been chairman of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for 15 years. "We still have big debt and we're going to find our way out of it, I'm certain."

In a separate interview, Mr. Sichak acknowledged that the way out involved restructuring the organization's debt.

The orchestra, which has a $13.8 million estimated budget for this season, had been posting operating deficits in the millions of dollars. For the past two seasons, however, the orchestra has essentially broken even. Its current debt, put at $18.3 million, has been incurred mainly from the purchase of the instruments, known as the Golden Age Collection.

It gets about 20 percent of its money from the state, but cannot expect any more financial help from the governor or the Legislature, which has just begun wrangling with a budget that calls for spending cuts and tax increases across the board. This year the State Council on the Arts awarded the orchestra $1.7 million, more than the council gave to any other arts organization in the state. The orchestra also received $1 million in additional state funds for a youth music education program.

Drew McManus, who writes an influential Web log at Artsjournal.com and is a consultant for orchestras, summed up the orchestra's current plight: : "I think the orchestra is suffering its own late-70's malaise." He said it was not a good sign that potential executive directors were shying away from the job.

"New Jersey should be a good steppingstone for managers," Mr. McManus said. "It should not be that tough of a sell. You really have to start scratching your head and wondering why."

If the orchestra is to fight its way out of the malaise, it will probably have no greater ally than Mr. Jarvi, the highly regarded 68-year-old Estonian who signed on with the orchestra until at least 2008 after the acquisition of the instruments. At the time, he praised Herbert Axelrod, who sold the antique instruments to the orchestra, as a "patriot" and said they were a large factor in his coming here from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Indeed, many in the classical music world were astonished that New Jersey had attracted a conductor of his stature.

"I'm the kind of conductor where I go where I see a place to grow," said Mr. Jarvi, who is also chief conductor for the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague. "This is a highly professional orchestra. It's a first-rate orchestra."

And yet Mr. Jarvi seems to be coming to the realization that Newark is at once tantalizingly close to one of the cultural capitals of the world, yet very far away. "It's pity," he said. "We are right next to New York. And little information makes it to New York."

In his first season as musical director, Mr. Jarvi is receiving glowing reviews from musicians and audiences. As for the notorious stringed instruments from the Golden Age Collection, both the musicians and Mr. Jarvi say that no matter what the controversy surrounding their acquisition, they add a deeper, richer sound to the ensemble.

Changes of Pace

It is a day before a performance of Shostakovich, Mendelssohn and the world debut of a piece commissioned by the orchestra, and the musicians have assembled inside a chilly Prudential Hall. Later in the week, they will rehearse here and then board a bus to play in New Brunswick. But today, Mr. Jarvi is trying to coax more from his basses in a piece called "Red Oak Dawn," written by the composer Charles Coleman. It is a strange piece, a combination of jazz, a hint of heavy metal, and lots of timpani and maracas.

He is pleading for the seven string basses to play with more urgency and presence in a section that sounds vaguely like the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man." He exhorts them, singing their parts: "Hoo! Hoo! Ha. ha. Haah haah!" He is now bouncing up and down on his metal stool, pumping his arms. "Ha! Ha! More! More! More!"

The basses play with more presence the next time.

Mr. Jarvi is a round, tanned, gap-toothed man. He has a tuft of well-groomed white hair and an impish twinkle in his eye. He often surprises his musicians, since it is easy for them to be lulled into complacency. To shake things up, Mr. Jarvi will take a different tempo or try something unusual.

"We have four performances of the work sometime," said Hector Falcon, a violinist. "You can't be on auto pilot or you're going to hit the ground face first."

At the rehearsal, Mr. Jarvi cajoles, praises and chitchats his way through passages, even while the musicians are playing. "Excellent!" he exclaims during a section that features a muted trumpet. He praises the violins, "So good "

When an oboist has intonation troubles in the upper register, he does not embarrass her.

"What note is that before the D flat?" he asks.

"Before the D flat?" the oboist responds. "F flat."

"Are you playing E?" he asks. "Or F flat?" He subtly hints that she may, in fact, be a little flat.

"Don't know," she says, shrugging, and tries again.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it," Mr. Jarvi gently praises as she works her way in tune. "Put as much beauty into these notes. As much as you can. Do not push these notes."

The Strings Attached

Herbert Axelrod -- The name sends chills down the spines of most people connected with the orchestra.

And yet the man who leaders of the orchestra have acknowledged conned his way into selling 30 string instruments for $18 million is not at all anathema to them. Even though Mr. Axelrod, 79, served a 15-month prison term that ended in October for a tax fraud unrelated to the instruments and last month was ordered by a Monmouth County judge to pay $4 million in a case related to his former company, he is still listed in promotional material as a "symphony angel."

Indeed, in a recent interview, Dr. Parsonnet, the orchestra chairman, staunchly defended Mr. Axelrod, the founder of the magazine Tropical Fish Hobbyist and publisher of numerous pet-care books. "He's actually continued to support us," he said. "He gets a lot of bad press, but he shouldn't. Every time he promises something, he does it. Every time."

Dr. Parsonnet said that in the past few years, before his troubles began, Mr. Axelrod donated $1 million to the orchestra for a concert series, gave another $1 million in a matching grant, and tore up debts totaling $1 million on the sale of the instruments.

He is also adamant about the instruments' authenticity, which has been questioned. "This issue of some of them being illegitimate, of them being fake, it's not true," Mr. Parsonnet said. "They're always being fixed, the necks being lengthened. But the basic wood is the same."

Still, some, like Mr. McManus, have criticized the orchestra for not getting a new appraisal that would, in all likelihood, stop the whispers.

For now, the taint from the publicity surrounding the sale of the instruments has stymied plans by the orchestra to raise money. Leaders had envisioned generous donors "buying" individual instruments.

"We have to raise money," Dr. Parsonnet said. "We have to get some major donors to buy it and let them name it. We hope that someone will do that. But not yet."

A report issued in 2004 by a special committee of the board blamed the orchestra's instrument committee for not properly apprising the full board of the range of opinions on the antique instruments. The instrument committee included Lawrence Tamburri, then the executive director, now with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Dr. Parsonnet.

These days, Dr. Parsonnet has some regrets about the sale, which he says he felt some pressure to consummate. "Axelrod was pushing it," he said, "and we were hearing that Vienna was trying to buy it" -- a claim that was later proved untrue -- "and that was Axelrod's negotiating technique."

Mr. Wagner, the bassoonist, said it had been difficult to get past the scandal. "I think it's been hard for me to watch it going on," he said. "The orchestra hasn't received the credit: that it's trying to make a bold artistic statement."

Adjusting to the Sound

The collection if antique instruments consists of 24 violins, 4 cellos and 2 violas, some dating to the late 1600's.

Darryl Kubian, a first violinist who is also a recording engineer in Ridgewood, said that at first, he and other orchestra members had trouble adjusting to the instruments.

"I think people were trying too hard," said Mr. Kubian, who plays a 1679 Stradivarius Parera valued at $1.5 million, "and we weren't getting the most out of them."

Indeed, the instruments do not need to be played with as much gusto to produce a big sound, and players have had to change technique to coax the right sound out. "It's got quite the meat behind it," Mr. Kubian of his violin.

He remembered when people first noticed the sound, during a performance of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.

"We weren't telling people we were using them," Mr. Kubian said, "and this couple came up to me and they actually said: 'Gee, there was something about the strings today. There seemed to be a bigger sound.' "

Since the string sound may be the orchestra's claim to fame, the recently announced 2006-7 season is heavy on Beethoven, Brahms and Haydn -- warhorse composers who Mr. Jarvi hopes will showcase the orchestra's sound.

"They're like wines," Mr. Falcon said. "Some are brighter, some are darker, some warmer, some are more soprano-type of instruments."

Mr. Wagner, though a bassoonist, has become an admirer of the strings. "As someone who sits behind the second violin section, it's just the most amazing sound you can hear," he said. "The sheer quality of the sound is dramatically improved."

The sound of the orchestra may be improved, but morale has taken a beating. For now, musicians seem to be adopting a "take one for the club" approach, grousing about their plight, but saying that the cuts will be good in the long run.

But Mr. McManus said that such a situation could go on for only so long. "The musicians accepted a large amount of concessions with a smile on their face," he said.

The next contract, which is set to enter into the negotiating phase over next few months, may prove more troublesome.

Mr. Wagner, who gives music lessons at Princeton and Rutgers and lives in Maplewood, said: "I know for me, making the mortgage this year is harder, and I have to think about budgeting more than last year. I feel it. Of course, there's a point you can't go past. But I don't think anyone entered this profession to get rich."

He said he thought the trustees were genuine in their concern over the cuts.

Mr. Sichak, the interim president, said the orchestra was "house rich, cash poor," in a way, because of the debt incurred by acquiring the Golden Age Collection. Mr. Sichak, who is a member of the board, has taken leave from his work as a president of Becton, Dickinson and Company, a medical products firm based in Franklin Lakes, and is not receiving a salary for his work with the orchestra.

"We're kind of instrument rich, cash poor," he said. "Unfortunately, we can't carve one of the violins up into 74 pieces and give it to the musicians."

Other musicians, like Mr. Falcon, remain bitter about the direction of the orchestra. The most recent contract, signed over the summer, spread pain all around.

"Our previous C.E.O. couldn't handle it," Mr. Falcon said of Mr. Woods. "He couldn't take the heat. He went for the easy deal, which was get another gig. It sort of left us limping, but good riddance, we can get someone else."

He went on to say that the recent moves, like shortening the season, left him with a "very bad taste."

"I think a lot of our truncated season was due to his ideas," he said. "He came in, he reconstituted this season, and then he leaves. It left us wondering, what's going on?"

Mr. Kubian, the first violinist, put it more delicately: "The last person left rather abruptly."

Mr. Woods did not respond to telephone calls and e-mail messages. In earlier interviews, he said the reason for his sudden departure was to get his children situated before the start of the school year.

Reaching Out

Like many orchestras around the country, the New Jersey Symphony is struggling to make itself more accessible to people who are not aficionados of classical music. It has gone so far as to change its mission statement to reflect this new direction.

In addition to the onstage talks, the musicians now mingle with the audience in the lobby during intermission.

On a recent evening, Jim Landwehr, 61, a researcher at Avaya Labs, asked Mr. Falcon what had become of Kwamé Ryan, a guest conductor who had been scheduled for that night's performance. Mr. Falcon explained that Mr. Ryan had abruptly left for a tryout in Europe.

"We got dumped," he told Mr. Landwehr.

In a later interview, Mr. Landwehr said he had been attending the orchestra's concerts for about 10 years, mainly out of convenience. "They're good, you know?" he said. "I got to the New York Philharmonic occasionally, but it's so much of a hassle."

And as far as the level of performance, he admitted, "I'm not as much of an expert to notice the difference."

Mimi Solomon, of Springfield, who allowed that she was "beneath 80," said that she enjoyed the talks from the stage and the meet-and-greets during intermission. "I love it," she said. "But, you know, you're going to get some very sophisticated people who think it's beneath them. But it's not beneath me."

Sipping a rum and cola during intermission was Adam Young , a 23-year-old bass guitarist from Randolph, who was festooned with a piercing to his eyebrow, a pointy stud in his chin and other bits of metal attached to his ears. Joining him was Kathryn Dicristina, 25, who is taking a music-appreciation class at William Paterson University. It was the first time either had come to hear the orchestra, and after a searing performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, they left impressed.

"I enjoyed it," Mr. Young said. "I didn't think I would enjoy it."

But would they be back? They exchanged glances, nodded and responded in unison: